Sheffield-based, British mountaineer, Adele Pennington (42), became the first British Woman to climb Manaslu, in the Nepalese Himalaya, on 4 October.

Manaslu is 8,163 metres high and the eighth highest mountain in the world. In reaching the top, Adele and her fellow climbers therefore made the first ascent by a British led and organised team of the NE Face of Manaslu.

Adele was leading a group of British, Nepali, New Zealand and Australian Climbers on an expedition organised by Jagged Globe, the UK-based organiser of mountaineering and climbing expeditions.

This was Adele’s third success in reaching the summit of an 8,000 metre peak (of which there are 14). She has climbed all of these in less than a year, which itself is an astonishing feat of mountaineering. Preceding Manaslu, Adele climbed Cho Oyu (8,201m) in October 2007 and Everest (8,848m) in May this year.

The ascent of Manaslu was made despite atrocious weather conditions, caused by a lingering and turbulent monsoon that still has yet to leave the Himalaya. Heavy snowfall threatened the entire expedition, and at one point the mountain had to be abandoned, with the team retreating in a hurry to advance base camp.

It is believed that only two other British ascents preceded the Jagged Globe expedition. The first by Alan Hinkes, in 1988 and the second by another Briton who climbed Manaslu, in 1997, via the NE Face route.  Alan went on to climb all 14 Eight Thousand Metre Peaks – a feat yet unrivalled by any other British Mountaineer.

From press release by Jagged Globe

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